Vigil in Kashmir

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34026, 15 December 1975, Page 16

Vigil in Kashmir

Even in the depth of: winter, Pakistani and ] Indian troops maintain, positions opposite each other up to about 15,000 ft in the mountains of! Kashmir, according to { Mr D. H. Crabb, inform-, ation officer at Lincoln i

College. He has returned to New

Zealand after spending a

year with the United Nations group supervising i the cease-fire between the 1 two countries. Mr Crabb, who is a Terri- i torial major with the head- i quarters of the 3rd Infantry j Brigade in Christchurch, said 1 that there were always four < New Zealand officers with i the 45 observers from 11 <

countries who formed the supervisory group. Their job was to visit

positions on both sides of the line of control on a regular basis to watch for any signs of movement for-

ward or any build-up in materials or personnel. IN MOUNTAINS The cease-fire line, he said, ran through quite flat country at one end, but after about 50 miles, rose quickly into the mountains and reached to more than 20,000 ft in the Himalayas. The job entailed quite a lot of work on foot, but in this country the treeline extended up to about 12,500 ft, he said. It had been very easy to establish a rapport with the troops on both sides, he said. They were fine people — “The best class of people went into the army.” The officers were very friendly and very well informed and interested in international affairs. Mr Crabb said that the Indian Army, because of its slightly different interpretation of the cease-fire agreements, was less keen to have its positions visited than the Pakistanis.

But during his tour of duty in the area there had been no untoward incidents. The Pakistanis allowed their peasant farmers to grow crops and graze animals right up to the ceasefire line, but the Indians had cleared a zone about a kilometre back from the line and this had resulted in

problems sometimes when the Pakistani farmers saw lush growth just across the

line. There were also problems about water rights. In the summer, one side might interfere with a stream to

keep it on their side of the line. There tended to be an acceptance of the present situation with the possibility that there might eventually be a political settlement, he said. A plebiscite In the area, to decide what the people wanted to do, was complicated by the fact that the influence of both sides would have to be removed for some time to allow the people to make up their own minds. ASSEMBLY On the Pakistani side, with which he was most familiar, a democraticallyelected assembly had been set up in the so-called Azad Kashmir, or free Kashmir, and it also sent representatives to the Pakistan Federal Assembly. Pakistan, he said believed that Kashmir should be allied to it because most of the people were Moslems.